People Describe The Meals They Thought Were Fancy As A Child That Were Anything But

Luxury Lobster

"I thought Red Lobster was classy sh*t as a child."

"As an adult I ordered 6 soggy small shrimp that came in bowl and they called it shrimp scampi and paid way too much for it."

- _Goose_

"My sons (they're almost 14) still think Red Lobster is the top echelon of seafood."

"We even go to the Outer Banks right on the ocean one week every summer where they both eat fresh, tasty seafood. But they think some $35 pile of rubbery Red Lobster meat is prime luxury."

- orangestar17

"I took one of my sons there to celebrate the end of a successful school year."

"I thought for sure he would realize how not-posh it really was."

"Nope, he thought it was amazing and couldn’t wait to tell his friends he had finally gone to Red Lobster. I kept my mouth shut and let him enjoy the luxury."

- pixygarden

Pizza Hut Used To Be Awesome

"In the 80s, I can't explain how big of a deal it was to go to a Pizza Hut. It was 30 miles away so it was a big treat."

"These days, not so much."

- Shroom4Yoshi

"Playing Pacman at the arcade table and wearing a book-it pin on my Jean jacket, ahhh the 80's"

- beccasam1

"We didn't have much money so didn't eat out much."

"The Book-It program at school gave those coupons for a free personal pan pizza when you read books and it was like Christmas"

- orangestar17

"Pizza Hut back in the day was a step or two above Pizza Hut today- which is barely a storefront."

"The old ones had funky roofs, salad bars, pizza served in skillets, table service..."

"Today? Nothing special."

- sdcinerama

Pasta-Roni

"I used to think my mom made this delicious angel-hair pasta with a creamy sauce all from scratch."

"It was just boxed Pasta Roni."

"But I’m glad it is because she passed when I was 12 years old and it would have sucked that I never got her recipe. Now I can just whip open a box and feel the nostalgia."

- drekia

"I didn’t come to this thread to cry over Pasta Roni."

- Basghetti_

"My mom died when I was twelve too. I’m still always trying to recreate recipes from childhood. Certain things I’ve got but I’m never gonna nail her sweet and sour pork. 😔"

- taipeileviathan

Because The French Are Fancy

"French toast, because it was 'French' "

- dick-nipples

"That's kind of adorable."

- Ascholay

"French toast is delicious though."

- SkeleHoes

"Same with crepes."

- Grjaryau

Fondue

"When I was a kid my folks would have a fondue night every great now and then. They would have a few different kinds of meat like hot dog pieces and some cut up chicken."

"To this day it seems special."

"We didn’t have much money growing up but this made me feel otherwise. One of my fondest memories as a kid with my parents."

- 1980pzx

"Woah! This brings back warm memories to fondue night."

"We didn't have much growing up, and fondue night always felt like we had something to celebrate. We even had special fondue plates we bought at a flea market."

"It was just one of those rare nights where dinner didn't feel rushed, with dad usually being tired from working all day or having to leave for a night shift."

"Thanks for bringing back that memory."

- Leilavdm

Hot Washcloth

"If my parents were going out for the evening, my mom would take us to the grocery store to pick out TV dinners."

"I usually got turkey, with mashed potatoes, stuffing, those miserable peas and carrots, and some kind of cobbler dessert."

"No microwaves then, so the foil trays went in the oven. My mom would put the hot tray on a washcloth on a tv table."

"We got to eat in front of the TV and thought it was fabulous."

- ItsSnowingAgain

"Same down to the washcloth or dish towel!"

"Pre microwave it was a big deal! This was the 70’s for me."

- miahsmama

It's Not Butter

"My mother used margarine in (nearly) everything, but she called it butter."

"So whenever we went to a nice restaurant to eat, I thought the real butter they served was something fancy and French."

- mobyhead1

"Same here."

"We've still never had real butter in our house. Even though it said 'margarine' on the tub it took me until I was at least 12 to realize it was different from butter."

"I was so shocked when I went to a restaurant and the butter tasted so good and different."

- katkeransuloinen

"This!"

"I baked a lot as a child and always wondered why my cookies were never very good. My mum raised me to believe that olive spread is butter."

"Turns out it’s not."

- Dragon_Sluts

Missing The Point

"Ratatouille because I had completely missed the point while watching the movie"

- maedayborowski

"Totally true! The movie does make it look super fancy but in reality 95% of ratatouille is a mess of mushy vegetables."

"It has a fancy sounding French name though."

- bambooshoot

"And I just now realized the point."

- Rin-Tohsaka-is-hot

"Same dude I was really young when I watched Ratatouille and completely missed the part where they said it was a peasant dish."

- NHK21506

Affording Ramen

"My mom told me 'We can't afford to eat ramen all the time.' "

"She meant that it wasn't healthy and that I should eat a vegetable or something. I spent years thinking instant ramen was expensive."

- pm-me-racecars

"SAME but I thought it was expensive just because I loved it so much."

"I got a job at a grocery store when I was in high school, realized how cheap it was, lost my damn mind."

- Remarkable_Squirrel3

"It was expensive for my roommate in college who ate nothing but instant ramen for so long that he felt like crap for weeks. Finally went to the doctor when his gums started bleeding."

"He had scurvy."

"Aaaand we talked to him like pirates for the rest of the year."

- victimless_lime

A Precious Commodity

"I always thought oyster crackers were super expensive and fancy because I only had them at restaurants with my clam chowder. And the waitress would only give me one tiny packet and it was never enough."

"Sometimes I would screw up the courage to ask for one more packet if I was extra brave or hungry but I always felt like maybe that was selfish of me because clearly this is a precious commodity."

- logcabinfarmgirl

"Yes! Lol"

"I remember finding them in the grocery store and being blown away you can just buy a big box of them! Hahaha."

- j33pwrangler

"This cracks me up because whenever I go drinking at a seafood joint I slam those crackers. Pinchers Crab Shack usually has a little basket of them at your table"

- FTMorando

IYKYK

"Golden Corral. If you know you know."

- Kasmanian_devil

"Yes!"

"We would eat there when we went to go visit my grandfather. And I thought it was the coolest thing that I could get 'ice cream' with different toppings."

- elanrach

Still Love

"Chicken and rice!"

"Growing up I loved it and thought my mom cooked it so often because she loved spoiling me. Eventually found out mom cooked it a lot because it was cheap and went a long way."

"Still love it though."

- AbductedMind

Layers Make It Fancy

"Vienettas."

"They were special, because they were sold from the yellow Family Frost trucks and as I try to remember, they were one of the most affordable big package ice creams from there."

"Sometimes I got the money and felt important when I could go buy it from the truck. I still like the memory of thin chocolate plates between the layers. Supermarkets were very scarce back then."

- Ziriath

"That 'Viennetta' frozen ice cream cake. I saw commercials for those all the time as a kid and I thought it was faaaancyyy."

- CPOx

"Those Breyers ice cream cakes... vienetta"

- MichiganMulletia

Moms Tamales

"My mom used to make me tamales every time I visited her on the weekends cause she knew how much I loved them."

"It took me years to discover she did not make them from scratch. They were the frozen ones you can buy at the grocery store."

- msphelps77

Soup For My Family

"I remember when I was about 11 and I stayed with my dad in the winter. To stock up on food he bought like 50 cans of Chunky soup and I thought he was rich when we walked out of the store."

"but it’s just soup, lol."

- Awpss

A Gift From God

"Pizza rolls."

"My mom never bought them for me, but the neighbor kid's mom would occasionally make them whenever I was over there and they were like a gift from god."

- Eyjovin

Taco Sh*ts

"Taco Bell."

"Even when we had fast food as a kid, it was rarely Taco Bell. So I always thought it must be more expensive, even though it never felt 'fancy.' "

"Now that I’m older and my guts can’t handle all the junk that I used to eat, I can see why my parents never wanted to get Taco Bell."

- FTMorando

3 Minutes

"The first time I had spam was at a Chinese restaurant during our Chinese New Year celebrations."

"I was like maybe 6 years old and my mum gave it to me and I actually thought it was the greatest thing I’d ever eaten."

"Fast forward to a few days later I ask my mum when’s the next time I can have spam (called it luncheon meat) and she just took it out from a metal tin, fried some white rice and the spam in 3 mins and gave it to me."

"Mind blown."

- Throws_for_Dayz

"Lunchables."

"Since my mom would never buy them unless there was some special occasion like a field trip, I guess I sort of associated lunchables with the good memories of elementary school field trips."

- ivcy24

It's your turn now, fam. What's your fancy-but-not-really fondest food memory?